I was sipping my afternoon tea indoors. It was a peaceful evening. Suddenly, a bunch of what I thought were mynas started creating a ruckus somewhere nearby. I thought it is going to pass, but it went on for sometime. I got curious and decided to checkout, and stepped out with the camera. As soon as I came out of the house, I saw a malabar grey hornbill flying into a nearby cashew tree. I had not seen hornbills here before. I thought it’s my jackpot and started clicking away. Just when I had shot one or two pictures, another one flew past, and then another one! All headed towards the place where mynas were making noise. Curious, I walked that way. They were Hill Mynas. But that was not all. Two coucals ran away in a hurry when they saw me walking by. And then, hornbills started coming in bigger numbers. Suddenly they were there everywhere, like crows in lalbag. Some of them whizzed just a few feet past me. I wasn’t ready for this. I continued clicking furiously but the light was not one but in my favour. Soon, the party of mynas and hornbills moved slowly into the jungles. Hornbills had added their kek-kek as response to mynas. Soon walked in a pair of rufous treepies! They kept hanging around me, teasing, but never co-operating for a photograph. A flameback joined the gang. An emerald dove was confused and was wondering what is happening, just like me. He moved out of the crowd very soon. The next ones to add their voice were a pair of rocket tailed drongos. They had the sweetest voice in the crowd, really pleasing to the ears. They entire flock slowly kept moving in towards the jungle where it kept getting darker and darker. So I decided to return to the point where it all started and just wait. Some hornbills were still flocking there. After some waiting, 4 rocket tailed drongos and 3 flamebacks arrived. By this time it was already late in the evening and darkness was setting in. Soon also came the rain that forced me indoors. It was a great feast of birding for 2 full hours.
